Large amounts of digital data can be stored in magnetic form on storage medium such as disks that rotate about a central hub in a disk drive. Hard disk drives (HDDs) generally include at least one rigid disk that is coated with magnetic material and that is spun around the hub at high speed. Information that is stored on the disks is provided in an organized manner that is accessible by a read/write head for reading information from disk tracks and writing information to disk tracks. Over the years, HDDs have become smaller and slimmer as consumer demand increases for more portable and lighter digital products. This has resulted in the design of the HDD changing to include top cover attached motors among the smaller form factor HDDs.
Disk drives generally include a disk clamping element that provides a disk clamping force for holding one or more disks to the hub. Reliable disk clamping is important both under normal operating conditions for HDDs and under extreme conditions such as operational shock and non-operational shock. Keeping the disks in position relative to each other and the hub, even during shock events, is important in maintaining accurate reading and writing of data. In addition, the use of reliable clamping configurations can help to minimize or prevent disks from moving into contact with other components in the disk drive, such as other disks, the cover, the suspension, and the like.
One challenge of using a top cover attached motor in a HDD is keeping the disks held securely in their desired configuration. In more traditional or larger HDDs, the media can be held by a center screw disc clamp. However, this design is not typically used for a top cover attached motor design. Current popular media clamping methods for top cover attached motors involve utilization of a disc clamp ring screw or a three screw disc clamp, both of which may be prone to disk contamination and/or uneven clamping in the axial direction of the disk. In fact, certain designs for clamping covers can generate particles as the external threads of the disc clamp ring screw move through the internal threads of the screw hole during the installation process. The particles can then settle on the media below. In certain cases, the screw may even rub against the media and cause further contamination and/or damage to the media itself.
There is therefore a need to provide reliable disk drive clamping designs that minimize or eliminate drawbacks related to clamping of disks in HDDs, such as those with top cover attached motors.